strength of the beast (Rewritten)
by TheSilverboar
Summary: While waiting for the Yule Ball to start Harry is ambushed by a person jealous of him. But when they attack someone close to him he snaps. SORRY BUT I COULDN'T COME UP WITH A GODO SUMARY FOR THIS ONE.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: Yet another story I'm rewriting…I'm starting to notice a pattern here. I know the changes aren't that major but they are still there.**

Strength of the beast

-Chapter one-

Harry and Ron were waiting in the Entrance Hall for the Patil twins who were their dates to the Yule Ball but when he saw them coming down the stairs he was confused as Padma was coming towards him and Parvarti towards Ron…or at least he thought that was who it was, "Padma not that it isn't nice to see you this evening but, no offence, I thought my date was Parvarti?" he asked, trying to see if he could deduce the true identity of his date, having noticed them switching places in the past.

Padma looked taken aback for a moment before she sighed and replied, "Harry I don't know how you can tell the difference between my Sister and me but I didn't want to be with Ron, I know he's your best friend but he's dumb as a Troll and a slob to boot.".

He had to try hard not to laugh as he snorted, "Well for anyone who actually pays attention it's rather easy to tell you two apart, you have a mole on your neck where your sister doesn't. Your hair is lighter and also you happen to be using a raven as a hair clip while she has a lion.".

She blushed embarrassed, "Well we're going to have to have fix that but how can you tell Parvarti is really Parvarti and I'm really Padma, we never did tell you which is which.".

Harry was a little confused "Well I know Hermione who is smart can't stand Divination and your sister loves it, I know when you two switch classes.".

She was again taken back "How could you tell that I am really the smart one I could really be Parvarti and actually be smart while Padma is the gossip.".

Harry was thrown for a loop but decided to pull out his trump card, "The Weasley twins tried to do the same thing during the sorting. The hat wasn't fooled and it sorted them out and you may have grown up but I knew you were Padma from when you were sorted.".

Padma stumped her foot in frustration, "I didn't count on that, yes I swear on my life and magic I am really Padma Patil and I am in Ravenclaw.".

He wasn't so much confused anymore but shocked as he noted the blue light that marked her oath, "Padma why'd you do that? I didn't need you to.".

Padma sighed before explaining, "My sister and I agreed that when someone figured out our secret we would swear to that person who we really are to confirm it, consider it a reward.".

Harry smirked amusedly, "Well then you should know I didn't really figure it out, I was bluffing the whole time and shooting from the hip. I just wanted to see who my date really was so thanks for telling and now I can tell the difference between you two. Before I always had to try and rely on gut instinct which I guess paid off here.".

Padma's jaw dropped and he laughed internally, she had been tricked at something she and her sister were apparently pros at, quickly she went over to her sister and dragged her over but blocked Ron when he tried to follow them, "A moment with my sister and Harry please." she said quickly. As Ron stalked off irritated Parvarti looked at her sister asking with a look what was going on, "Sis, one of the the princesses of trickery was just tricked by Harry and I gave up our secret because of it.".

Parvarti looked back and forth between them dumbfounded, "Harry please don't tell people about our switching or which of us is which, we really love doing it." His housemate pleaded desperately.

Harry sighed before smiling at them, "I swear on my life and magic that I won't tell the Patil twin secret and will let them go about their daily lives.".

The sisters sighed in relief before they smiled, they linked arms and spun arm in arm causing light to encase them and when it ended they were both dressed in the same color, with Hogwarts hairclips instead of the identifying Lion and Eagle, before they called Ron over as Padma explained to his friend "Ron, Harry has figured which of us is which and now it's your turn. So, who is Padma and who is Parvarti, and you must get it right to keep your date tonight.".

He looked between them clearly confused, "I can't tell with Fred and George, what makes you think I can tell with you but I'm going to take a stab at and say you are Padma," he said pointing to Parvarti "and you are Parvarti." he finished pointing to Padma.

They patted him on the back making him smile thinking he got it right before they said "Sorry Ron, thanks for trying but you're wrong." Parvarti said before she turned to Harry and asked, "Harry if you would, I don't have a date anymore so would you mind if I join you and Padma as a second date?".

Harry smiled at the opportunity to have two dates and decided to not look a gift horse in the mouth, "I would love to have two lovely women such as yourselves as my dates tonight." he said, linking arms with both of the while Ron stormed off in a huff.

When it was almost time for the Ball to begin they walked up towards Professor McGonagall, when she saw them she raised an eyebrow and asked "Which of them is your date tonight Mr. Potter?".

He smiled at her before replying "Both Padma and Parvarti are going to be my dates for this evening." making her sigh but she marked it down before walking off muttering about how he would put his father to shame. When she was gone he looked around and noticed Hermione walking in with Krum, walking up to her he smiled and said, "Hi Hermione, you look lovely this evening.".

She smiled back before hugging him "Thank you, and I must say you are looking Handsome yourself tonight. But where's Ron, I thought he was supposed to be escorting Padma?".

He winced at that question as he could imagine the fallout that would occur, "Well Ron lost that opportunity when he couldn't tell one Patil sister from the next so I have been given the opportunity to escort both of these lovely ladies to the dance." .

Before Hermione could respond she was cut off by an irate Viktor Krum, "I thought that by bringing this filthy mud blood I could upstage the great Harry Potter by taking his closest friend but no he has to upstage me again by bringing two Purebloods to the dance, and twins at that. I will not be upstaged by some pathetic Half-blood!".

Everyone nearby looked shocked at what Krum had said while Hermione looked close to tears before Krum leaped at Harry and started to throw wild punches while he tried to block the blows from the older and much larger teenager. The other students quickly tried to rush in and help him but Slytherin House as well as the representatives of Durmstrang quickly blocked their path and started flinging spells and the staff was doing their best to try to stop the spell fire, the students from the other Hogwarts Houses and Beauxbatons attempting vainly to aide the staff. Hermione and the twins, who were still nearby, started kicking Krum before he suddenly got up and struck Padma across the face.

With that Harry saw red, shooting to his feet he grabbed Krum by the throat and threw him into the wall. He started charging towards him when Draco and his bookends Crabbe and Goyle got in his path to try and block him but he ignored them and just barreled through, sending the trio flying like they were bowling pins. He was advancing on the fallen Krum when the doors burst opened filling the area with a dense fog as a group of wizards in robes that resembled the descriptions he had heard of aurors. He started coughing from the fog when the Slytherins stopped firing spells and started piling on him in an attempt to kill him before they could be arrested. He felt the weight of all of the bodies crushing him but the strength he had coursing through him just kept building along with his rage and with a mighty yell he forced himself up and sent all of the Slytherins flying and vaguely noticed the group of shocked aurors as he continued to stalk towards the cowering Krum.

When he reached the Durmstrang Champion he lifted the coward up with his left hand while he punched with his right, after a few blows he spun around and threw his broken and bleeding opponent flying into another wall. With the crack of bones breaking when Krum impacted against the wall the aurors snapped out of their shocked stupor and rushed towards him with wands drawn. "You are under arrest for attacking a member of a foreign dignitary party." one of the aurors said, the shake in the man's voice clear to anyone listening.

Harry turned a glare on him, "If you try to defend that bastard then I will break you." he said in a low growl making the auror visibly gulp before McGonagall rushed forward.

"Don't you dare arrest Mr. Potter!" she snapped, "He was defending himself and his companions when Krum assaulted them with aid form Slytherin House and the rest of the Durmstrang representatives.".

"It does not matter, he still assaulted Mr. Krum and several children of notable pure…" that was as far as the auror got before Harry shot his hand forward and stuck the auror flat palm across the chest sending the man flying through the doors.

Harry turned a glare on the rest of the trembling auror contingent, "Bring me someone competent now or so help me I will do to you what I did to him!" he snarled.

One of the aurors quickly sent a patronus message before going back to cowering as he scoffed and rushed over to Padma, gently picking up the unconscious girl, afraid that he might break her as he held her in her arms. His anger draining away and being replaced with concern and with his anger so went his demonic strength. After a few minutes of him worrying over Padma a stern looking woman with a monocle had arrived "What is going on here?!" the woman demanded angrily "I got a message from one of my aruors rambling about some sort of demonic Harry Potter!".

"Madame Bones, Mr. Potter and his friends was assaulted by Mr. Krum, the rest of the Durmstrang contingent, and Slytherin House. Mr. Potter defended himself and left Mr. Krum in that state," Professor McGonagall said gesturing to the unconscious Viktor Krum, "Then one of your aurors tried to arrest him after we had explained the situation for, as he put it, 'attacking the children of notable pureblood families' even after I had told him they had attacked first. Mr. Potter then decided to teach him to keep his mouth shut and sent him out of the castle quite forcefully.".

Sighing the woman, Madame Bones, said "I will be taking the students who started the assault in tonight and allow the rest of the students to enjoy the ball. I will be back tomorrow for their statements." before turning and having her aurors start cuffing the still moaning or unconscious Slytherins.


	2. Chapter 2

Strength of the Beast

Chapter 2

-Harry-

Once the hall was cleared of Durmstrang and Slytherin students Madame Pomphrey was able to rush over to check on him and Padma. "Will she be able to attend the ball?" he asked, worried for her health "Because if she can't come I don't think I'll be going either." Parvarti quickly backed up his decision, sending him a grateful look for trying to help her sister.

"I'll have her patched up in in no time," the kindly healer assured them "the blow wasn't too bad and all it will take is a few spells. Just bring her back to me should she show any signs of problems.".

"Of course Madame Pomphrey," he said, sighing in relief that Padma was going to be alright "thank you.".

"Of course Harry," the matron said, smiling at him fondly "now stand back so I can get your date back in dancing shape.". The nurse quickly healed the damage to Padma's face before waking the girl up with an 'enervate' spell causing the Ravenclaw Patil to shoot forward.

"Harry!" she exclaimed when she saw him, throwing her arms around his neck "You're alright!".

"Yeah," he said before wincing "although I think my life is about to get a whole lot harder. I highly doubt the families of those Slytherins or the Durmstrang students will be too grateful for me beating their children to a pulp, even if said 'children' were trying to commit murder.".

"Wait what?" Padma asked confused, not really grasping what had happened since she had been knocked out.

"After Krum struck you Harry went mad," Hermione explained causing him to wince and look away, embarrassed at his lack of control "he destroyed Krum and every single Durmstrang and Slytherin student in his way. The lucky ones got knocked out while the rest had at least one broken bone. The aurors that arrived tried to arrest Harry for the situation though until Harry sent one of them flying.".

"The Head of the DMLE eventually showed and took away the Slytherin and Durmstrang students," Parvarti picked up the story "but she's coming back tomorrow to get everyone else's statements.".

"Harry," Padma's voice called softy as he turned towards her, hoping she wasn't afraid of him "it's alright. You were just trying to protect me.". As she spoke she cupped his cheek as he sighed in relief, leaning into her touch before pulling her close to him once again.

"Thank you." he whispered gently, rubbing the beautiful witch's back as she ran her fingers through his hair.

"But what are you going to do Hermione?" Parvarti asked, breaking the silence as everyone turned to the Gryffindor witch who finally seemed to fully grasp that her 'date' had only asked her to one up his competition and then openly insulted her.

"I…I don't know." Hermione said, dropping down to the ground in shock as everything caught up with her.

"Well Harry already has two dates," Parvarti said shrugging "why not make it three?".

At that question everyone gaped at Parvarti in shock before slowly turning towards Hermione, expecting the bushy haired girl to be furious at the suggestion but to their shock she actually seemed to be considering it before nodding. Looking down at his arm he gave himself a hard pinch "OW!" he yelped causing them to look at him confused "Okay…definitely not dreaming.".

Giggling at his statement Padma nuzzled into the crook of his neck, making him roll his eyes in amusement before pushing himself to his feet, holding the Indian Witch in his arms as he did so. Smiling at Parvarti who stood on his right and Hermione who stood on his left he walked back over to McGonagall who was organizing the remaining students "Ah, Mr. Potter thank you for rejoining…us…Hermione as well?" she asked exasperatedly as Hermione had wrapped one of her arms around his waist while Parvarti mirrored the action to show whose date they were.

Shrugging he said "Professor McGonagall, three beautiful, brainy, and brilliant witches have all agreed to be my dates this evening…I'm not about to look a gift horse in the mouth and plan to enjoy every single second of it before they come to their senses and run as far away from me as they can get.".

"Harry," Hermione chided, clearly struggling not to laugh "we aren't going to run away from you.".

"How many women are you going to be dating Mr. Potter?" McGonagall asked in amused exasperation "I would like to keep track…and get ahead of the betting pool that will no doubt start.".

"I didn't expect for this to happen!" he protested weakly "Like most major events in my life I was sorta blindsided by it but for once I'm not complaining.".

"You'd better not be," Padma said, giggling happily as she kissed his cheek, making him blush an impressive Gryffindor red "or else we might get upset.".

"PLEASE NO!" he yelped in panic "One angry woman is scarier than Voldemort…I don't think even Merlin could handle three women baying for his blood.".

"I see you 'ave trained him vell." Fleur said to his girls, the French Champion's date Rodger apparently trying to decide who got the better deal between the deal as while Harry had three dates Rodger was dating a part Veela.

"Oi!" he exclaimed indignantly as the girls giggled "Uncalled for.".

Ignoring him Fleur faced Padma "Would you be willing to allow me a dance with your man tonight?" which caused Rodger to officially enter 'jealous' territory.

"If you behave yourself," Padma said giggling "I think we can let you have a dance or two.".

"Look out Davies," Cedric said laughing to Rodger "Harry's Harem looks like it's trying to recruit your date for the evening. We might have to step up our game if we don't want the girls to ditch us.".

While Cedric had meant the statement as a joke Rodger clearly didn't take it as one as the Ravenclaw chaser glared at him before gripping Fleur's arm "Fleur isn't going to be dancing with you Potter, and she _definitely _won't be joining your Harem.".

Backing up nervously he eyed the clearly angry Fleur "Rodger…" he said slowly "I think it might be a good idea to let go of Fleur's arm…she doesn't look very happy right now.".

Rodger simply snorted before seeing Fleur glare at him causing the Ravenclaw quiditch player to yelp and quickly let go of Fleur's arm before McGonagall rushed them into the hall, wanting to avoid another battle zone in the Great Hall. As they were directed to sit at the head table he tried to think of how to seat the girls without making them angry. Seeing his dilemma Parvarti giggled and pointed out "I think Padma already has a seat Harry…you.".

Blushing he sat down with Padma giggling and wiggling on his lap while Parvarti took the seat to his right and Hermione the seat to his left. Rodger sent the entirety of the meal shooting him dirty looks while Professor McGonagall had taken Dumbledore's seat, the Headmaster having rushed off to the ministry to deal with the fallout of the veritable battle earlier. Fleur spent the time chatting with his group, pointedly ignoring her date Cho reassured Cedric she wasn't going to ditch him… even if she did have a good threat to use against him now.

After they finished their meal McGonagall led them out onto the dance floor as he took Padma into his arms, promising Hermione and Parvarti he would dance with them next as they shooed him away when he got nervous. Cedric and Cho didn't even seem to see the rest of the group as they stared into each other's eyes and, while he still felt attracted to the Chinese witch, he decided to let them have their happiness with each other and move on…before he realized that he already had as he gazed at the beautiful witch in his arms. But while he was happy with his dance partners, and Cedric and Cho were quite obviously pleased, Fleur was anything but as she looked at Rodger with disgust, the enthralled seventh year completely oblivious to her ire, as the boy hungrily eyed the French Champion.

The first dance was slow and graceful but he could barely remember it as he danced with Padma in his arms, his entire being focused on the smiling witch in his arms until the song ended and Padma seamlessly switched with Parvarti as another slow song started but while he continued to dance, albeit with a new partner, and Cho and Cedric hadn't stopped Fleur left Rodger the moment she could before joining Padma and talking to the Indian Witch.

The third song was another slow song and he was the lead guitarist shoot him a wink letting him know the band was giving him the chance to have a slow dance with all of his dates as he twirled Hermione across the floor. As the third song ended Fleur immediately cut in with a small smile and the guitarists that had previously winked at him instead shot him a thumb's up.

As he began his dance with the beautiful French champion he saw Rodger trying to demand a dance from one of his dates. Before he could even try to go over and confront the fool Hermione had her wand drawn and between the idiot's eyes making him grin as Rodger fled the hall in a mixture of embarrassment, anger, and fear.

The dance with Fleur was a wonderful experience and as it ended he placed a soft kiss on the back of his fellow Champion's hand as she smiled at him before they both walked back over to his dates, hers having fled for the evening.

Having danced with each of his dates, as well as Fleur, the band quickly picked up the pace and played a much faster song as people began dancing energetically on the floor as the four girls quickly dragged him back out as he danced with them all, the faster pace allowing him to dance with them all at once.

After a while though he grew tired, as did the girls, and they quickly found a table as he went to get drinks for the group. As he walked back to the table though he paled, as he saw a furious Ronald Weasley storming over to the girls.


End file.
